Thread regarding Bank of New York Mellon Corp. layoffs

Well, no one I worked with was in my office so the only face to face collaborating I did was about who won the game the night before.

Todd jr - BNYM - honest & ethical. Hahaaa. That’s good. Thanks for the laugh this morning.

@txe

Actually, in office collaboration is the goal for the People Pillar. Collaboration is essential and teams gradually crumbled without daily interaction. Robin understands that he must bring us all back into our facilities.

It’s not about Robin and real estate. It’s about Robin rebuilding teams. Robin is smart enough to understand that you cannot rebuild teams if you can’t even bring the teams into the office.

Those who don’t agree should take the high road and conduct a search for a fully remote position. Wouldn’t that be the honorable and ethical approach?

@1pdw

Nothing will change for you until you do.

@7dfl

You can’t just simply slack for two years and then expect to be have no repercussions. All that our WFH experience achieved was to demonstrate that we needed adult supervision in the office.

We collectively broke trust with management and so now we get Robin with rules for children and we were adults are penalized as well. If layoffs ever resume I sure hope that they’re targeted to the non compliant workers who ruined it for all.

I understand this sentiment, but that’s dismissing peoples’ valid personal preferences, their specific position which may lend itself to remote work, and the fact that some people simply work better with less distraction. Do we want to recruit and retain people? In the modern workforce, we need to embrace remote work. Judge based upon results, not the location in which those results were produced.

zkk+1ptNQDBY - not for nothing but tracking wouldn’t have occurred if people went in like they were instructed too. is it ridiculous? sure and they use it as an excuse to get rid of people but those who disregarded instruction and the managers who allowed it are to blame. And wfh would’ve been more successful if people actually worked and didnt have to be babysat. Again those individuals are to blame. You get paid to work not goof off or slack off

The only thing I will miss is taking breaks and lunches with people . Outside of that , the drive, the in office noise and distractions will not be missed one bit

@1gw
Still looking for your red stapler I bet.

@1ojy

Expenses appear on the income statement.

Allow me to guess… University of Phoenix graduate?

Solid troll post. I give it a B+

@pci+1ptNQDBY so right. They want to save their friends in high places who owns these commercial real estates to go down the drain. This is one item in their balance sheet which is a overhead expense , asset vs liability.

In person collaboration of course has value, but just not at this company. Most roles are are operational - people are either sitting waiting for a client/vendor email before acting, or scrambling to put out a perceived "fire". It's not exactly collaborative work...

I get more work done at the local Starbucks cafe than I do at the office. It is quieter, has less distractions and more privacy. BNYM offices are now basically glorified call centers. I keep saying this on my Peakon surveys but, for some reason, nothing ever changes 🤔

I am a team of one in my office. I spend multiple hours commuting, pay to park and pay for meals and meet with NO ONE. It is so distracting to be in the office surrounded by twenty-somethings who do not talk about work AT ALL, but everything they do talk about is really, really loud.

I have been here almost 40 years and have not set in the same office, with my group in at least 25 of that, my group is spread throughout the US offices, UK and India. I have been able to form lasting friendships with these people and many others in different groups throughout the globe. Sitting in an office is just noise you don't need, constant over hearing of others conversations, conference calls and what did you watch on TV last night conversations. The real-estate footprint is the only reason they want anyone back in the office.

@jeb,

Yes but I only did it for 40 years. 3 hours a day round trip. Actually only 38 years thanks to Todd, the very best CEO ever.

Everyone I knew has been laid off or force retired. I can do what I need to do remoty....if allowed.

You must not spend 3 hours a day commuting (3 hours of completely wasted time) like I do. Dinosaurs and executives who get driven to work with no cares in the world can’t grasp this concept.

Quit responding to this a-hole. He’s a troll

Ok, boomer.
I’ve worked with people REMOTELY at BNY & Mellon for two decades and formed many close bonds, friendships and deep trust. These deep relationships survived the COVID era and we’re key in holding us together.
The only benefit of sitting next to someone is you can tell if they're busy if you want to discuss something and you might overhear something of common interest.

Presuming this isn’t a troll post, I’ll give you plenty of reasons in office “collaboration” is extremely overrated. The more you’re “collaborating”, the less you’re working. The more you’re “collaborating”, the more I have to tune you out while I’m trying to work. The people “collaborating” are usually gossiping, whether about work or their personal lives (and some people manage to intertwine the two). No one is stopping you from “collaborating”, but most of us don’t gain anything from it. I’m happy for you that you have made friends with your colleagues and H-1B counterparts, but don’t try to force that on us because it only leads to tension and drama that neither you nor the rest of us want.

By the way, if in office “collaboration” was so important, why isn’t everyone in one office? Why do we have tons of different offices in the US and overseas? Or is there a different motivator here?

I was a new hire during COVID. And I was able to form wonderful relationships with co-workers even through the first 12+ months were fully-remote. Now that I am in the office, I spend virtually no time outside my office anyway. I come in in the morning, go to my desk, close my door, get on teams calls (if I am lucky I get up once or twice to run to the bathroom and/or get water) and then don't come out again until it tis time to go home.

The only thing going into the office does is cost me commuting time and gas money (and less time I can use to work, less time to go to the gym, and getting more tired because of a long commute). None of my coworkers are even in the office I am in - so it's not even a matter of just trying to schedule meetings in person. We physically can't unless people travel (across the pond; to entirely different states, etc.). It is a complete waste of time. Not to mention, these days most of the people I work with are too stuck-up or ignorant for "collaboration" (regardless of whether it is in person or via teams) to be productive. The love to hear themselves talk and anyone with a different opinion is in danger of being fired.

Collaboration is just an excuse for some like Robin to justify the large real estate footprint (and because like so many of the big banks real estate is a huge portion of the investment portfolio so getting people in office is about bottom line it is not about collaboration). But it is clear that Robin's people pillar isn't really about the people - it gives great lip service and then when it comes to actually backing that up, there is no concern for the people, no reward for loyalty, no reward for outstanding performance. We are all just numbers who are replaceable based on the whims of a man (and a number of other so-called "leaders") who apparently have learned how to play the game well enough to be promoted even when they are incompetent to hold the positions they hold.

I find some value in in-office collaboration, but only because many colleagues are in my geographic location. It's good to walk over to someone for a quick question instead of coordinating a teams call. Many aren't in my location, though, but that didn't stop me from building a strong relationship. And the ease of working with people locally doesn't justify the micromanaging of RTO monitoring and treating workers like kindergarteners.

Yet BNYM finds a way to make things even worse. If collaboration is so important, why do we all have assigned seats in many locations? Wouldn't it be better to do a hotelling situation and expose yourself to more people? It's not for everyone and you may prefer sitting in the same spot every day, that's fine, but I've been stuck near loud groups many times and it's terrible.